Josh Nathan-Kazis January 31, 2012

Mitt Romney forced Holocaust survivors to eat non-Kosher food, a Gingrich robocall claimed today.

The claim ties longstanding criticism over a 2003 veto Romney signed as Massachusetts governor to the specter of mistreated Holocaust survivors in an 11th-hour bid for south Florida’s Jewish vote.

The call, available here, references a bill Romney vetoed as governor that would have continued funding of kosher food in nursing homes.

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And while the veto has been covered heavily in the past, and reported on as recently as this week, the charge that Romney’s decision specifically hurt Holocaust survivors appears to be a novel one.

“Holocaust survivors, who for the first time, were forced to eat non-kosher, because Romney thought $5 was too much to pay for our grandparents to eat kosher,” the recorded caller intones. “Where is Mitt Romney’s compassion for our seniors? Tuesday you can end Mitt Romney’s hypocrisy on religious freedom, with a vote for Newt Gingrich.”

The call comes in the context of a tough battle over south Florida’s sizable Jewish vote – a battle Gingrich appears to be losing. Interviews in south Florida last week suggested that Jewish seniors in the area lacked enthusiasm for Gingrich, expressing particular concern over his character.

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